Our View: Cleanup of welfare department must be swift and broad

Sunday

Feb 3, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Beacon Hill's argument that improvements to infrastructure and education justify higher taxes falls flat when the commissioner of the state Department of Transitional Assistance resigns because of millions of dollars in waste.

Beacon Hill's argument that improvements to infrastructure and education justify higher taxes falls flat when the commissioner of the state Department of Transitional Assistance resigns because of millions of dollars in waste.

Health and Human Service Secretary John Polanowicz asked for and received DTA Commissioner Daniel Curley's resignation on Thursday after the discovery of millions of taxpayer dollars going to families not entitled to state and federal welfare benefits.

A state inspector general's report and a probe by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on overpayments of welfare and food stamp benefits pointed out tens of millions in waste or fraud.

"While Commissioner Curley is dedicated and committed to his work on behalf of low-income and underserved residents, a failure to change leadership at DTA would make it impossible to tackle these serious challenges and focus on solutions," said Polanowicz, less than two weeks after he was sworn in as secretary of HHS.

He blames the majority of the $27.8 million in food stamp overpayments since 2010 on a dramatic increase in the number of applicants seeking aid during the recession and too few DTA employees to handle the increase in volume properly.

Regarding the $25 million a year in state overpayments, which Polanowicz notes is 3 percent of the department's annual budget, he suggested that more rigorous checks on eligibility requirements would have saved taxpayers millions of dollars, a clear acknowledgement that 3 percent is unacceptable.

In spite of a "Program Integrity Unit" established by the Patrick-Murray administration in 2008 that has recovered $28 million due to intentional and unintentional violations, it's clear more needs to be done.

The DTA's mission, according to its website, is "to assist low-income individuals and families to meet their basic needs, increase their incomes, and improve their quality of life."

The commonwealth's welfare system is important, and when recipients of aid are able to use that aid as a bridge from poverty to productivity, we all benefit, but waste and fraud weigh heavily.

The secretary says that changes have been made to "systems and processes" and he promises more to come.

And while the gross criminal negligence and inadequate oversight that have plagued the state in the crime lab and deadly compounding pharmacy debacles appear to be absent here, the waste of tens of millions of taxpayer dollars can only weaken our confidence in our state government.

Firm, principled oversight is needed today, and we hope the new secretary is up to the task.